What streaming platforms look like next decade

Entertainment · 2026-08-02 · 7 min read

By Sara Iyer, Culture & media

Subscriber growth has stalled in mature markets, so the industry is rediscovering advertising, bundles and licensing.

The growth story is over in the markets that pay the most. When almost everyone who will subscribe already has, the levers left are price, advertising tiers, bundling and reducing the number of people who leave after finishing one show.

That has produced a visible strategy shift: fewer enormous bets, more mid-budget series, and a return to licensing content to rivals because a guaranteed fee now beats exclusivity that nobody counted.

Discovery is the underrated failure. Vast catalogues with weak navigation mean subscribers watch a handful of promoted titles and conclude there is nothing on, which is a browsing problem being read as a content problem.

Growth is coming from regional production, where local-language shows are cheaper, travel further than anyone expected and drive subscriptions in markets with lower prices but far more people.

The likely destination is something resembling the television business the industry replaced: bundles, advertising, sports rights and licensing, delivered over the internet with better recommendations and worse margins than the original promise.

Tags: streaming, media, entertainment

Sara Iyer — Sara writes about digital culture, entertainment and how creative work is changing for ESPYCRUX. She reads the release notes and the box office, and thinks the two explain more together than either does alone.